Best Tiny Expansion

Old Road Mercantile

Staff Pick

Lily has always been a favorite of ours on Lower King Street, selling one-of-a-kind jewelry, Tokyo Milk beauty products, and creative greeting cards out of a tiny space. The store recently expanded with an equally tiny home goods-oriented shop called Old Road Mercantile. Calling itself the “World’s Smallest Department Store,” this is the kind of place where you buy goods worthy of a design blog, from colorful Le Jaquard Francais kitchen towels to organic tea and delicate hourglass kitchen timers, and even Charleston-born products like Magar Hatworks millinery and Jack Rudy tonic. Honestly, though, we wish Old Road Mercantile was much, much bigger, and full of much, much more stuff, because we’re sure it would all be amazing.